Description:
The Cumberland Mountains extend from northern Tennessee to West
Virginia. They lie in a heavily forested region representing one of the largest
blocks of primarily hardwood forest in Tennessee. The landscape is nearly
93% forested and includes three significant publicly owned tracts--Frozen Head
State Park and Natural Area, Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area, and Sundquist
Wildlife Management Area. Within the Cumberland Mountains in Tennessee, mixed
mesophytic forest covers moist slopes. The watersheds of the New River and Emory
River transect this area providing additional riparian habitats for birds. The
area also contains one of the densest beaver populations in eastern Tennessee,
providing local concentrations of forested wetland habitats.Frozen Head State Park and Natural Area (12,570 acres [8,620
acres Class I natural area and 3,950 acres Class II natural area which is everything
below 1600' elevation contour and that includes the state park]), near Wartburg,
Morgan County, is an excellent example of what presettlement conditions might
have been hundreds of years ago. The mountains here are some of the highest in
Tennessee west of the Great Smoky Mountains, with 14 mountain peaks eclipsing
3,000 feet, the highest being Frozen Head Mountain at 3,324 feet. The name "Frozen
Head" drives from the peaks that are often capped with snow or ice in winter.
The lowest elevation is at the Flat Rock access at 1,340 feet. The deep hollows
and valleys here provide vast rich mesophytic forest habitat that includes species
of hemlock, White Pine, Tulip Poplar, Sugar and Red maples, many species of oaks
and hickories, Yellowwood, Yellow Birch, ash species, Walnut, Blackgum, beech,
Sourwood, Basswood, magnolias, and Black Cherry. At mid and upper slope levels,
a mesic oak forest takes over with White Oak the dominant tree along with Tulip
Poplar among others. At higher elevations and on dry slopes and ridges, Scarlet
and Chestnut oaks and Shortleaf Pine become more common. There are almost 60 miles
of trails. Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area
(50,000 acres), Campbell and Scott counties, and the Sundquist Wildlife
Management Area (73,000 acres), Anderson, Campbell, and Scott counties,
are 35 miles north of Knoxville. The habitat of these mountain forested areas
is similar to the Frozen Head area, but has been mined and logged years ago, providing
more open and edge habitat. Hundreds of miles of roads exist within their boundaries
because of this.

IBA
Criteria: 2, 3, 4f

Photo by Richard
Connors

A male
Cerulean Warbler in all its glory sings from a tulip tree. Its song can
be confused with a Northern Parula and be heard for long periods of time, as much
as an hour continuously, and then silence for lengthy periods.

Ornithological Importance:
The bird-life of the Cumberland Mountains in Tennessee is particularly rich. While
current and past surface mining and even-aged forest management have compromised
the quality of the forest in some areas in the Cumberland Mountains, it still
provides extensive habitat for the entire suite of forest interior species that
are identified by Partners in Flight as priority species because of declining
population trends.Note 1. It is estimated
that 80% of the global population of Cerulean Warblers, a Tennessee
In Need of Management species, nest in the BCR 28 (Appalachian Mountains).
The Tennessee portion of the mountains harbor as much as 15 to 20% of this population. Point
count routes in mid-aged to mature hardwood forests recorded the species on over
50% of points during sampling from 1995-1997. During the Cerulean
Warbler Atlas Project from 1997-2000, more Cerulean Warblers were reported
from the Royal Blue WMA than at any of the other 73 sites surveyed. Nowhere else
in the specie's range do breeding densities exceed those found in the Cumberland
Mountains of Tennessee with 6 to 10 breeding pairs per 10 acres recorded (Nicholson
2004, Buehler et al. 2005). The Cerulean Warbler habitat model (Buehler et al.
2005) predicts that 39% of the Cumberland Mountains is potential breeding habitat
for as many as 44,000 breeding pairs. A Cerulean
Warbler Survey in Frozen Head State Natural Area has been conducted 1993-2005. Cerulean
Warbler data from a 10-mile (16-kilometer) walking transect in the natural area
reveal a decline of 60% from 1994 to 2004 (from 106 registered in 1994 to 43 registered
in 2004). The reduction in numbers has been fairly steady over the decade in question;
the reduction is most noticeable at lower elevations (1,500-2,500 feet) and less
noticeable at higher elevations (2,500-3,300 feet). There was a modest increase
to 55 birds in 2005(Stephen J. Stedman).Note 2. The
Cumberland Mountains in Tennessee harbor one of the most important concentrations
of Golden-winged Warblers, a Tennessee In Need of Management
species, in the southeastern United States. In 2001, surveys in the counties of
Anderson, Campbell and Scott for the Golden-winged
Warbler Atlas Project totaled 69 Golden-winged Warblers. Golden-winged Warblers
occupy a variety of early successional habitats within the mountains but are primarily
associated with abandoned and reclaimed strip mines. (Total estimated number of
pairs based on Golden-winged Warbler Atlas Project survey [Melinda Welton].)Note 3. The avifauna of the Cumberland Mountains
in Tennessee includes disjunct nesting populations of species typically associated
with higher elevation forests of the Southern Blue Ridge. This species suite includes
Veery, Chestnut-sided Warbler, Black-throated Blue Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler,
Canada Warbler, and Rose-breasted Grosbeak. Early
June Surveys in Frozen Head State Natural Area, 1994-2005, detect these species.Note 4. The most common species detected on
point count routes conducted in the Cumberland Mountains from 1996-2000 included
Red-eyed Vireo, Wood Thrush, Ovenbird, Hooded Warbler, Scarlet Tanager, and Indigo
Bunting, species expected to be associated with a heavily forested landscape.

Ownership:
Ownership in this region is complex. Frozen Head State Park and Natural Area
is wholly owned by the State of Tennessee. Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency
owns the surface rights to both Royal Blue WMA and Sundquist WMA but not the mineral
rights. Nor does the state own the timber rights to Sundquist WMA. The
rest of the Cumberland Mountains are in private hands.
Contact: For Frozen Head State Park and Natural Area--974 Flat
Fork Road, Wartburg, TN 37887 (423) 346-3318 (office), 423-346-6629 (fax); For
Frozen Head Natural Area--Division of Natural Heritage, 401 Church Street, 14th
Floor, L&C Tower, 401 Church Street, Nashville, TN 37243-0447, 615-532-0431. For
Royal Blue Wildlife Management Area and Sundquist Wildlife Management Area--Tennessee
Wildlife Resources Agency, Region IV, 3030 Wildlife Way, Morristown, TN 37814,
423-587-7037, 800-332-0900 (toll free in Tennessee).

Conservation
Concerns: The area is a fairly intact, forested landscape made-up
of large public lands and forest industry land holdings. The presence of the forest
and coal industries in the area has helped maintain the large tract sizes in single
ownership. However, Interstate 75 cuts through the center of the IBA and the sprawling
city of Knoxville, Tennessee is less than a 45-minute drive south. Development
pressure is beginning to appear within some portions of the area and the sectioning
and sale of forest industry lands would bring a great deal more.
A chip mill built in the mid-1990s exists in the center of the area. The
impacts of timber harvesting for this chip mill, on local bird populations, is
unknown. Another serious threat to species requiring mature forests is the potential
increase of coal mining in the region. Coal mining techniques used in the region
include deep, contour, and mountaintop mining. Mountaintop mining is known to
cause significant habitat modification and destruction, to both the terrestrial
and aquatic habitats, by removing the tops of mountains and filling in streams.
The use of this technique has, to date, been limited in the area.